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'Super Vision' and Osmo offer groundbreaking tech for kids

With the following two products, tech for kids just got cooler. PBS KIDS has a new app that gives parents "Super Vision" into and control of their kids' digital lives. The upcoming release of Osmo, an add-on

'Super Vision' and Osmo offer groundbreaking tech for kids

With the following two products, tech for kids just got cooler. PBS KIDS has a new app that gives parents "Super Vision" into their kids' digital lives. The upcoming release of Osmo, an add-on device for the iPad, enables kids to bring real toys into the digital world for new interactive play experiences. Here's the scoop on each.

PBS KIDS Super Vision

If your child is one of the 11.5 million kids who plays on PBSKids.org each month, you can now be clairvoyant about what they are watching and playing — even if you are halfway around the world.

The new free iOS app called "PBS KIDS Super Vision" connects to your child's Web experience on www.pbskids.org. Parents can see, in real time, exactly which games and videos their kids are exploring on the site. Parents get a code from the website to enter into their device to make the syncing work.

Once connected, it is as if you were standing over your child's shoulder. The app shows you the title of what your child is watching or playing as it happens, and spells out what kids can learn from that activity. It offers suggestions for fun, educational activities away from a screen.

Also cool is the parent's ability to remotely control their kid's screen time on the PBS KIDS website. With the push of a button from your mobile device, a parent can put the PBS KIDS website asleep and then wake it up again whenever they want. They can also set a specific time limit before the site shuts down.

PBS KIDS, a non-profit that is led by research, heard from parents in testing that they were "hungry for information about what their children were learning from pbskids.org, delivered to them on their own time and on their own device," notes Sara DeWitt, Vice President, PBS KIDS Digital.

With this revolutionary app, parents can be all-seeing. Walk in the door at night, and you can be whistling the theme song to the video your child had watched earlier. Or ask questions about the games played and suggest a fun activity. With the "Super Vision" app, parents up their game to become "Super" parents.

Osmo is an add-on to the iPad.(Photo: Tangible Play)

OSMO

Available for presale this week, Osmo is an add-on to the iPad that enables kids ages 6 -12 to play with real toys in front of the device and then have the iPad incorporate these real world objects into the digital play.

Osmo is a mirrored device that slips over the front-facing camera to redirect the sight area of the camera. It works in a similar manner to a toy periscope. Osmo also comes with a base to hold the iPad in a vertical position, so that the camera sees an area focused directly in front of the iPad. It's bundled with a set of alphabet tiles and tangram blocks.

Once Osmo is set up, kids can play three different games downloadable for free in the iTunes app store: "Tangible Play Newton," "Tangible Play Tangram" and "Tangible Play Words."

With "Tangible Play Newton," you work through puzzles about controlling dropping balls that appear on the iPad screen. At first, your goal is to redirect the balls to hit targets. Kids maneuver the dropping balls by drawing Rube Goldberg-like solutions on paper placed directly in front of the iPad or by dragging real objects into the play area to create bumpers and ramps. Using what the camera sees, "Newton" superimposes the drawing or gathered objects into the game with the balls, so that the balls appear to bounce off of the objects appearing in front of the iPad. As the 60 levels of puzzles increase in difficulty, kids get to explore accelerators, propellers and teleporters. This game offers endless solutions to trigger your child's imagination.

The "Tangible Play Words" game is all about spelling words, using letter tiles. The tiles come in two colored sets. Two children can play competitively or cooperatively. Kids play the game by looking at a vibrant image on the iPad and then spelling a word found in the photo, using the tiles. Osmo recognizes if a correct letter is placed in front of it. This app makes spelling words fun and exciting.

Tangram puzzles involve placing seven geometric blocks in different configurations to create fun images, such as a cat or a seal. With "Tangible Play Tangram," kids match the outlines shown on the screen by placing the blocks in the correct formation in front of the iPad. Osmo tracks the position of the blocks, and lets kids know when a block is in the correct position by filling the outline with color. When kids successfully solve a puzzle, new ones become available. Each of the 600 puzzles can be tried in four levels of difficulty.

Osmo's presale price is $49 for the first 30 days ($99 thereafter) from www.playosmo.com. The product is expected to ship within 8-12 weeks after ordering.

Jinny Gudmundsen is the Editor of www.TechwithKids.com and author of iPad Apps for Kids, a For Dummies book. Contact her at techcomments@usatoday.com. Follow her @JinnyGudmundsen.